Weather was always a topic that brought about the great duality between people. Some people preferred the warmer tepid climates where layers could be worn lightly and the soft breeze of summer air could be gentle upon a person's skin. Other people preferred the cold, biting temperatures that seemed to fill the lung with refreshing breaths with each inhale. To see their breath fog up in delight.

One could always put on more layers, but there were only so many layers to take off. Which is why, upon discovering that the Astral Express was now waylaid by the planet Jarilo-VI, Stelle promptly readied an abundance of coats, ready to take on the planet that had been struck by an eternal winter.

Or at least, she tried to. Stelle had realized she didn't have any extra clothes besides the one on her back and the few spares that March had given her. For some reason, the peppy girl didn't have any winter coats herself. This was despite her claims that 'Pretty girls aren't frost resistant.' and instead claimed that 'she would keep warm with the sheer power of her will.'

Himeko promptly explained that the blessing of the Trailblazer would keep its crew warm even in harsh conditions.

Despite that, Stelle didn't give up and in her quest for a working winter coat, she met herself with the crew member of the Astral Express that she had the least interactions with so far. Welt Yang. Though they had introduced themselves to each other on Stelle's first night on the train, they hadn't had much interactions with each other outside of that. That all changed when Welt offered one of his winter coats to Stelle as a reassurance.

It was then that Stelle realized a very important fact about Welt Yang.

He had style.

It was a simple style. Much more subdued than the iridescent and eye-catching colours of March. Which, while fit her perfectly and undoubtedly caused Stelle's eyes to wander because of it, did not exactly fit Stelle herself. Welt's laid back style was a different case. The whites of the coat meshed well with her gray hair and the blacks highlighted her golden eyes.

She looked good if she did say so herself which, while not her initial objective, turned out to be a nice secondary effect. The coat was very cozy after all.

So with that out of the way, the trio. Dan Heng, March and Stelle, descended upon the planet Jarilo-VI to fix their ecosystem or something.

She… probably should have paid more attention instead of admiring her new coat.

The first thing that Stelle noticed on the new planet was that it was white. To an extreme degree. So much so that just looking directly at the snow hurt her eyes. Which made it rather difficult to look anywhere since everywhere she looked there was more snow. In fact, snow apparently was the most reflective naturally occurring surface on most planets.

"I hate snow." Stelle declared, almost as soon as they set foot on the planet.

"Whaaaat? It's not that bad. Are you cold?" March responded.

"Not as much as I would have expected, but it's not about that. My eyes hurt."

Dan Heng nodded in agreement. "Despite the fact that there isn't much light because of this fog, the ground is still bright to look at."

"Why did we land here instead of where we were supposed to?"

"Subtlety is the key." Dan Heng explained. "Not all civilizations would be warm welcoming if we just descended from the sky without warning."

March sighed. "Why couldn't we have a snowmobile or something."

The lancer gave her a flat look. "We did have a snowmobile, remember?"

The pink haired woman gave a sheepish laugh. "Haha… Oh right. I forgot about that."

There were a few monsters in their way, which according to Dan Heng meant that the corruption of the Stellaron was deep. They wouldn't be found outside of the fragmentum normally, but the evidence was in front of them.

Stelle huffed. After her victory over the Doomsday Beast, a few weak monsters were nothing to her!

Except, when she swung her bat at the bat-like monsters she missed entirely, instead overswinging and hitting a dead tree. It caused snow to fall from it's branches, burying the monster in it. A second later a broken branch fell off from the top, impaling the buried monster and causing black dust to seep out from the snow.

Nothing could ever be simple.

Especially not when one of March's arrows missed, sailed past the monster, and landed directly into a heap of snow. Normally monsters didn't curse loudly and run around with an arrow sticking out of their rear like a tail.

"Oy! Watch where you're shooting those things!"

The trio all turned to stare at the new arrival of the mysterious man.

"Ah."

"What?"

"...How does this happen every time."

The last remaining bat-like monster rammed itself into Stelle's bat, where it flew around in a concussed like state before dizzily flying head first into Dan Heng's spear.

The trio and the stranger stared at each other. How was someone normally supposed to act when a man shows up out of nowhere because he was buried in snow?

"Listen lovely strangers. Can we just forget that we ever met?" The mysterious man told them. He was still covered in patches of snow.

That sounded reasonable to Stelle. "Yes."

"No." Said March at the same time.

The two locked gazes before turning to Dan Heng.

He pointedly ignored both of them. "Can you tell us why you were hiding in snow?" He asked diplomatically.

The man rubbed his hands together, looking in all directions. "Wellllllll you see I was just looking for a little bit of a treasure and-" He stopped halfway as he bolted away from the trio.

All three of them watched him go in silence. They waited until his silhouette was swallowed up by the fog before speaking.

"Well I can safely say that this is the strangest start to an expedition." Dan Heng commented.

"Yeah no kidding." March added.

"So this isn't normal?" Stelle asked.

"No." The two more experienced trailblazers answered simultaneously.

There was a unanimous silent agreement between the crew to forget such an encounter ever happened and they continued their way towards the coordinates they had been given prior to setting off. March led the way happily, all but skipping through the snow as she did so.

The road to the was more tedious than it was long. The snow made trudging through it slow and annoying and the monsters were more akin to pests than anything else. The fact that March was still to chipper the entire while was something Stelle mentally applauded.

What was interesting was seeing the old abandoned houses, half covered in snow. Some even went up nearly to their roof in snow, indicating just how much snow had fallen since those commodities were built. She wondered how long it had to be for something like that to happen.

When they were nearing the coordinates, they saw three silhouettes peeking through the fog. They were clearly armored and had weapons.

"Heads up." Dan Heng called.

The trio readied themselves for an encounter, not visibly drawing their weapons but instead prepared for anything.

There was a faint muffled shouting, one that was undeniably human, and the three silhouettes sped up moving towards them. Once they got close enough that their features were visible. One of them, the blonde one in the middle, spoke to them loudly.

"Halt! Identify yourselves! What are you doing outside of Belobog?" He commanded.

The trio shared a glance. March stepped forward to respond.

"I'm March 7th. This is Dan Heng and this is Stelle." She introduced them. "Can we know who we're speaking with?"

Stelle would never admit it out loud, but she was a little impressed by March taking charge. It didn't exactly seem like the type of thing she would do, but it was clear that she had some experience with the entire thing.

"I'm Captain Gepard of the Silvermane Guards. I'm going to repeat myself. What are you doing outside of Belobog?"

"We're not from Belobog! We're members of the Astral Express." March tried to explain.

The name of the train evidently didn't mean anything judging by his unimpressed look.

Dan Heng took up the mantle when it seemed as if things weren't going well. "We're not from your world." He said bluntly. "We're attempting to locate the source of the 'Eternal Freeze' and remove it, allowing both your planet the ability to heal from the corruption and so we can be on our way through the stars."

Dan Heng's explanation got a long silence from Gepard and the two others. Gepard seemed to be contemplating their words seriously but the other two recovered and didn't seem to believe them.

"Is this some sort of new scam?" He mumbled to his partner. There wasn't really an effort to muffle it so the words clearly reached the trio's ears.

March huffed in irritation. "Why would we try to scam you in this type of weather?" She said.

"I don't know lady, I'm not the one trying to scam others."

"We're not trying to scam you." March said in exasperation.

"Maybe they're with the suspect?" The other unnamed guard suggested.

"Oh that would make it even more likely that they were trying to scam us." The initial guard responded.

"We're not even trying to sell you anything." Dan Heng pointed out.

Stelle decided to mentally classify the two guards as Guard 1 and Guard 2.

"That's exactly what a scammer would say!" Guard 1 said.

"Yeah! Next thing we know you're gonna dye your hair blue and we're gonna have to chase you through the snowstorm!" Guard 2 backed up.

Gepard seemed to be finished with his pondering. "While I don't have anything against you three or want to make any assumptions. The fact of the matter is that we're currently in pursuit of someone and you three are suspicious on the grounds of being outside the city gates. I'm going to have to bring you three in-"

"Wait!" Stelle called out.

The blonde captain frowned at being interrupted but allowed her to speak. "Yes?"

Stelle didn't really know what she wanted to say, only that it seemed as if things were going down the wrong route. Getting locked up and prodded for questioning didn't seem productive.

"The truth is… we're lost." She said lamely.

March made a face at her as if to say 'that's the best you could think of?'.

"...Right. How did you three get lost outside of Belobog?"

Stelle blinked, she was a little surprised that he didn't immediately shoot her down. But she supposed that was progress. But how could she respond…? Wait. Hasn't she been in a situation like this before? Back at the space station when the two people who were now her teammates questioned her. The scenario wasn't the exact same but it was similar enough.

"We… got our ID cards stolen by some guy and followed him out into the blizzard." Stelle declared.

Yes. Perfect alibi. Now they couldn't ask for their identification and they also had a reason to be out.

Gepard sighed. "Well that's a lot more believable than being from space. There have been stories about such a thing from the distant past but it's quite the tale." The captain frowned. "Though if that was the case then why didn't you three just say that in the first place?"

"Ah! That's because these two have been out in the cold too long and are freezing! They don't know what they're saying!"

March looked vaguely offended at the claim but didn't speak up.

"Yes. I am freezing. Please bring me back to civilization." Dan Heng spoke up in the most monotonous voice Stelle had ever heard from the lancer.

"And you're not?" Gepard asked.

"No. I have a nice coat." Stelle said, flaring the coat just a bit.

"It is a nice coat…" Gepard muttered.

"Oh the terror afflicted to these poor souls! Venturing out into the harshness of nature just to reclaim what is rightly theirs!" Guard 1 spoke back up dramatically.

"Hark! To think we initially thought that they were out doing nefarious deeds when they were the ones who instead had been struck by the misfortune caused by others!" Guard 2 said, equally as melodramatic.

The other four people present couldn't help but collectively grimace at the utter oddity that was the guard duo.

Gepard sighed loudly. "Yes. We're just going to head back and we'll forward you to the administrative offices. You just need to fill out some paperwork to get an ID reissued."

"Great! Thanks for your help!" March said, rebounding quickly from her earlier irritation.

Surprisingly, Dan Heng gave Stelle a slow nod of approval.

That was how the trailblazers entered Belobog. The last bastion of humanity on the planet Jarilo-VI.

To regain their stolen identities, ones that didn't exist, the trio needed to fill out a surprising amount of paperwork in an office located near the base of a large set of stairs. It was just past what Stelle assumed to be the center of Belobog, located after a large structure that was a mixture of ice and machinery.

Captain Gepard and the guards left the trio there, letting the three talk with the receptionist regarding the situation. Apparently from the small talk that the receptionist and March had, people getting their identities stolen happened at least once a month. It was something that there was a regular procedure for.

Stelle mentally apologized to whoever was going to deal with their paperwork, no doubt it would be an annoyance since they technically didn't exist to the people of Belobog.

March was the first one to finish up, and she split off from the group to look for clues about the Stellaron. Though Stelle had a sneaking suspicion that the pink haired woman was likely going to spend more time taking pictures of the city than figuring something out. The way she was left with her hand already on her camera was telling. Dan Heng left shortly after March, only bothering to talk to the receptionist to get directions to the library of the city.

Stelle finished up last and decided to instead take a page from March and explore the city. Unlike the iridescent girl, she was going to try and stay on task.

She got two steps out of the door to the administrative building before she literally ran into someone.

"Ah!" A feminine voice exclaimed.

Surprisingly, the stranger didn't budge a bit when Stelle bumped into them, causing Stelle to backpedal in a manner that caused her footing to be off. Her ankle buckled and she prepared to bite the dust.

Except, that never happened. A slender but strong arm wrapped itself around Stelle's waist, halting her descent in its tracks. Another hand gripped her wrist and used it as leverage to keep her straight.

The golden eyed woman blinked as she caught up to reality and decided to get a good look at her savior.

Then her jaw dropped.

Stelle felt her cheeks light up at the beauty of the woman. Her chest felt light and fluttery and her stomach did flip flops from nerves. How was a singular woman capable of being so beautiful? Her long hair was silvery and seemed to shine in the daylight. The tiniest flecks of snow settled in her hair only serving to highlight how well taken care it was. It started straight and flared out into gentle waves that intensified into curls. Her eyes were a warm gray that reminded Stelle of a gentle sunset.

Her outfit only complimented her natural beauty. Her dress was a milky white, with folds and layers that gave away how thick it must have been to combat the cold, yet despite the layers did nothing to diminish her good looks. Her shoulders were exposed to the elements but it only served to draw Stelle's eyes to the delicate skin.

And then, her legs.

Oh god, her legs.

With long stylish boots that went up to her thigh and tights that showed off the toned yet still undoubtedly soft upper thigh.

She could get lost in those legs.

Stelle could feel the words die in her throat as she took everything in. There was still the fact that the woman was still holding her up, one arm wrapped around her waist and the other grasping her hand. She could feel herself flush against her body. That didn't help her thoughts from being a jumbled mess.

"Are you alright?" The woman asked. Concern was as clear as day in her voice.

Her voice was crisp and sounded like a ringing bell. If it was possible, Stelle might have melted on the spot. Luckily her words allowed Stelle to wrangle some semblance of control back into her body. All she needed to do was apologize for bumping into her and not say anything odd.

Simple.

"That's the fastest I've ever fallen for someone before." Stelle said, then immediately cringed mentally.

Oh god. What was wrong with her? Her mouth refused to listen and was instead saying whatever it wanted!

The silver haired woman blushed. "O-Oh." She said shyly. "You're… quite the charmer."

Stelle wondered if her heart skipped a beat or if she was just having a heart attack. It should be illegal for someone to be as cute as they looked in that singular moment. Was she staring too much? She was probably staring too much. It was just impossible for her to tear her eyes away from the woman. Stelle straightened herself, removing herself from the arms of the woman (to her own disappointment) and prepared to speak a normal sentence.

"Sorry. It's just… you're the most beautiful woman I've met on this planet." Stelle continued, her mouth still betraying her.

If anything, the blush on the woman's face only seemed to intensify. Stelle used that moment to set herself upright, no longer relying on the woman for support. If Stelle's cheeks were as bright as they felt warm, she was sure that she looked similar to her.

"T-Thank you. You're quite… striking as well."

There was a small silence as the two women just absorbed each other's words. It wasn't an awkward silence, more one to simply regain bearings. Stelle used it as a moment to internally panic at the fact that her blubbering flirting was actually somewhat being reciprocated.

Unless, she was just being nice? Who ever said that lie about how only women could understand other women? That was blatantly false! Not even women could understand other women! How was it possible to discern what was going through the perfect woman's mind at the moment?

Stelle had zero idea what she was doing. Maybe introductions were a good starting point? They were probably a good start. She just needed to open her mouth and say her name without saying anything dumb.

"I'm Stelle." She managed to say without stuttering.

"I'm… Bronya Rand."

There was another small beat of silence as Stelle racked her brains on what to do next. She hadn't ever gotten this far yet! That one bout with Asta hardly counted since she was introduced via her friends and that was interrupted by a gigantic dragon! What did March tell her before? Be confident?

Alright. She could do that. Sort of. Possibly.

Why did she feel more nervous than when she was fighting the Doomsday Beast?

Stelle cleared her throat. "This might be a bit fast but-" She licked her lips as she struggled to find the right words. "Would it be alright if I took you out to dinner?"

The 'or something' went unsaid.

Bronya seemed surprised at her words but Stelle attributed the fact that she wasn't immediately rejected as… good news? Hopefully.

"I… have some free time. Would you be okay if we met up at the theater for the dinner matinee? I have tickets that I never thought I would use." The Silver haired beauty suggested.

"Of course! That sounds wonderful. That's in… how many hours?"

Bronya checked her watch. "Two hours. We can meet up at six?"

Stelle nodded. "It's a date then."

The word 'date' seemed to bring reality back to both of the women, as Bronya blushed once more before giving Stelle a bright smile. "I look forward to it then, Stelle." She said, "I'm going to go prepare, I'll see you soon."

"Yeah. See you soon Bronya." Stelle called out to the woman as they went their separate ways.

Stelle just stood there in the place that Bronya had left. She was going through the past conversation in her mind, attempting to figure out if she had been dreaming or in some sort of illusion to no avail. It just felt so surreal.

Her cheeks were still flushed warm. Her heart was still beating annoyingly stomach still felt all fluttery and she felt strangely jittery overall.

Stelle deduced that she was in fact, in reality.

"Holy shit I got a date." She muttered to herself, before grabbing her phone at lightning speed and opening up a group text with Dan Heng and March.

EMERGENCY MEETING. MEET UP ASAP!

She sent the text to the group chat and slid it back into her pocket. Surely they would understand her urgency.

Start: May 15th. 2023.

End: May 18th. 2023.

Words : 3590.

What's it called when a woman is literally swept off her feet and then somehow sweeps the woman who swept her off her feet, off her feet? I'm not sure but I'm kinda a sucker for the dynamic.

I made a tw1tter for fanfic related stuff. NightshadeFN is the tag. Give it a look if you want.

Next chapter will either be in the next few days or in 2 weeks. New FFXIV patch is coming out so gonna be busy with that.